The Big Flight to Velocity HQ in Florida for upgrades
Some of the XL's in the fleet have experienced problems with the main gear deforming over time due to heat from the brakes. This typically occurs in planes that are flown a lot at heavier weights. Well, that's us as we typically make long trips with four people, full fuel and lots of bags.
I began to notice very rapid and uneven tire wear on my main gear tires. I jacked up the plane and could tell even before I measured that the camber was off and the gear slightly bent.
Thankfully, the factory has come up with a solution - aluminum "booties" that replace the last foot of the original carbon and fiberglass legs. I also had an old style steel nose gear with a "taco gusset" which was prone to cracking over time. I decided to put in the new improved version as well.
While I was at it, I wanted to replace my leaky hydraulic cylinder reservoir and, to round things out to install a new shimmy damper on the nose gear. This not only prevents shimmy, it makes ground handling much better.
The best place to get all of this done was the Velocity factory in Sebastian, Florida. They are obviously the most experienced shop for Velocities and, even though I have built two Velocities, I knew that they had worked on hundreds.
We decided to fly down on Friday after work with an overnight stop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This broke the flight up into two family friendly 2 1/2 hour flights. The plan was that I would enjoy the weekend with my wife and son, then get all the above work done on Monday and finish Tuesday morning, then fly home Tuesday afternoon. This could only get done at Velocity.
Below are some photos and descriptions of the trip. At the end of the post is a 20 minute video detailing the whole trip and repairs, with videos of all the takeoffs and landings. The trip was beautiful and it was actually hard to boil down 9 hours of flying, 1,600 miles of scenery and all the fun into 20 minutes. If you want to get a sense of what a long cross country trip is like in a Velocity, I think the video will give you the idea.
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Here we are loading up at the hangar after work on Friday. An 8 hour drive becomes a 2 hour flight in a Velocity.
We watch the sights roll by at 8,500 and 195 knots and are there before we know it. Here are some shots of the approach and landing at Grand Strand Airport in Myrtle Beach.
The next morning we have breakfast and head to the airport for a 10:00 takeoff. As usual, storms are forecast all along our route in the afternoon.
Nancy and Sean headed out to the plane.
Fueled and ready to head south.
Headed down the coast.
Nice view inland
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Here are some shots as we head south through Georgia and Florida along the coast at 9,500 and 195 knots.
As predicted, the weather gets worse to the south. The screens show a big thunderstorm right over Sebastian airport. It looks like we can dodge around it and land in a gap in the storm. I love having in flight weather on the screens.
Weather going down near Titusville
Below the first layer of clouds, and watching the screens
Sebastian just ahead. The white lines are the extended runways. The colors are the storm.
There's the airport. Landing in the rain with most of the storm behind us.
We are greeted by Duane and Bonnie Swing who let us park in their new facility. It is gorgeous, and loaded with beautiful Velocities, including several new Vtwins.
The family at Velocity HQ
Lots of Velocities
No, not mine. They copied my paint scheme on a twin. Not happy about that.
I showed up at the factory at dawn on Monday. It was already hot. I put in 16 hours from 6:30 to 9:00. It was brutally hot and humid. Deep thanks to Scott Swing who put in the same long hours while in excruciating pain with a back injury. We got the new gear legs, tires, reservoir, door gas springs, nose gear overcenter gas spring, shimmy damper, nose fork bushing and more done. All that was left to do was to put it all back together and align the gear. I went home, drank another gallon of water and collapsed.
Booties
Almost back together.
New nose gear leg.
Nice color face. Nancy brought lunch and lots of fluid.
Tuesday morning we finish up at 11:00. I take the plane around the pattern and confirm everything is working. We fuel up, take off and head north. It is noon in Florida, almost 100 degrees and 100% humidity. Surprise, big storms are forming. We dodge them just off the coast, make a quick fuel stop in Myrtle beach and make it all the way home by dinner time. Here are some pictures of the flight home.
It was a great trip. I think the video below gives a better description. My apologies to Riley Swing, Scott's son. I goofed the caption on his picture. He had just gotten married and made his own very cool carbon fiber wedding ring.
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